NEA report calls for more accurate data on SNF heat decay

October 6, 2025, 3:11PMRadwaste Solutions

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency has issued a report calling for more-detailed information on tracking the decay heat of spent nuclear fuel from light water reactors. According to the NEA, the report highlights the increasing importance of accurate decay heat estimations due to evolving fuel characteristics, including higher initial fuel enrichment, increased burn-up rates, and extended reactor cycle lengths.

The report, Summary of the NEA Assessment on Spent Nuclear Fuel Decay Heat for Light Water Reactors, summarizes the findings of a subgroup of the NEA’s Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS), which ran from January 2022 to January 2024.

Deep Isolation licenses its disposal technology to fed contractor Navarro

September 26, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
A prototype nuclear waste canister in the drillhole receptacle. (Photo: Deep Isolation)

Nuclear waste disposal technology company Deep Isolation Nuclear announced it has signed a technology licensing agreement with government contractor Navarro Research and Engineering, giving Navarro access to Deep Isolation’s portfolio of intellectual property for use in nuclear and hazardous waste management applications across the states of Tennessee and Idaho.

IAEA to work with WM Symposia on nuclear waste management

September 24, 2025, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions
WM Symposia’s Greg Meyer (left) with Mikhail Chudakov from the IAEA. (Photo: WM Symposia)

WM Symposia, which hosts the annual Waste Management Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., announced it has signed a practical arrangement with the International Atomic Energy Agency aimed at strengthening international collaboration in the safe management of radioactive waste, decommissioning, and environmental remediation.

Amentum plans to add 3,000 U.K. nuclear jobs, receives WM contract

September 22, 2025, 7:02AMRadwaste Solutions
Amentum says nuclear growth in the U.K. will result in the hiring of 3,000 new workers over the next four. (Photo: Amentum)

Global engineering company Amentum announced plans on Thursday to create 3,000 new jobs over the next four years on the back of growth in nuclear power and defense in the United Kingdom.

The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K., during which a number of deals between the two countries were announced.

U.K.’s NWS gets input from young people on geological disposal

September 18, 2025, 9:37AMRadwaste Solutions
An instructor and participants during the first National Youth Forum on Geological Disposal forum. (Photo: NWS)

Nuclear Waste Services, the radioactive waste management subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, has reported on its inaugural year of the National Youth Forum on Geological Disposal. NWS set up the initiative, in partnership with the environmental consultancy firm ARUP and the not-for-profit organization The Young Foundation, to give young people the chance to share their views on the government’s plans to develop a geological disposal facility (GDF) for the safe, secure, and long-term disposal of radioactive waste.

DOE-EM sees nearly $2M in savings in naval reactor D&D recycling

September 12, 2025, 10:03AMNuclear News
Idaho Cleanup Project crews separate noncontaminated metal for recycling at INL’s Naval Reactors Facility. (Photos: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) has recycled more than 2,100 tons of noncontaminated metal debris since 2022 as it works to demolish three legacy Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program prototypes at the Idaho National Laboratory Site, saving taxpayers nearly $2 million in disposal costs while advancing the project’s environmental goals.

Energy secretary denies reports of DOE plans to axe Hanford’s WTP

September 11, 2025, 9:27AMNuclear News
An aerial view of the Hanford Site’s 200 Area and the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, also known as the Vit Plant. (Photo: DOE)

Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued a statement on September 9 denying reports that the Department of Energy plans to terminate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

Savannah River waste-shipping equipment gets new life at Idaho

September 4, 2025, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions
Specialized loading equipment for TRUPACT-IIIs is sent from SRS to the Idaho Cleanup Project for reuse. (Photo: DOE)

Demonstrating the beneficial reuse of equipment among Department of Energy cleanup sites, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management transferred TRUPACT-III shipping equipment from its Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the Idaho Cleanup Project at the Idaho National Laboratory Site. This collaboration shows how DOE-EM drives efficiency, focusing on priorities and reining in costs without sacrificing safety or effectiveness, the DOE said.

DOE awards contracts for nationwide LLW and MLLW services

August 29, 2025, 7:00AMRadwaste Solutions

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced yesterday the awards of five basic ordering agreements to conduct nationwide low-level and mixed low-level radioactive commercial waste treatment services at commercial waste treatment facilities of DOE contractors throughout the United States.

Oyster Creek submits plan to terminate its NRC license

August 19, 2025, 7:10AMNuclear News
Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. (Photo: Holtec International)

Holtec International has submitted a license termination plan (LTP) for Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a milestone in the decommissioning of the boiling water reactor, which operated from 1969 to 2018. Holtec took over Oyster Creek’s license from Exelon Generation in 2019 for the immediate decommissioning of the plant, located in Forked River, N.J.

NWTRB schedules meeting on DOE waste management progress

August 1, 2025, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board announced it will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, August 27, to review information on the Department of Energy’s activities to manage spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and to receive program updates from the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

Trump expels all but one member of nuclear waste oversight board

July 23, 2025, 9:31AMRadwaste Solutions

The Trump administration has dismissed seven of the (formerly) eight board members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, the independent federal agency tasked with evaluating the technical and scientific validity of Department of Energy activities related to managing and disposing of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

New model simulates radionuclide migration in geologic disposal systems

July 22, 2025, 3:00PMRadwaste Solutions
(A) Computational domain and material distribution used in the simulations. The domain is rotated so that the Opalinus Clay strata are vertical. (B) 3D contour plots of neutral uncharged tritiated water (left) and charged 36Cl− (right) solutes at 900 days. (C) Comparison of observed (symbols) and simulated (lines) borehole concentrations using the 3D model. (Image: Sarsenbayev et al.)

Researchers with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Orléans, have modeled radionuclide behavior in deep geologic formations, offering a tool for developing a defensible safety case for the underground disposal of radioactive waste.

NRC may allow ANO to use decommissioning funds for early disposal work

July 11, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
The Arkansas Nuclear One nuclear power plant in Russellville, Ark. (Photo: Entergy)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering allowing Entergy to use a portion of the decommissioning trust fund (DTF) for the Arkansas Nuclear One nuclear power plant to dispose of several major radioactive components (MRC) that have been taken out of service at the two-unit pressurized water reactor.

ANS joins others in seeking to discuss SNF/HLW impasse

July 10, 2025, 3:02PMRadwaste Solutions

The American Nuclear Society joined seven other organizations to send a letter to Energy Secretary Christopher Wright on July 8, asking to meet with him to discuss “the restoration of a highly functioning program to meet DOE’s legal responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial and legacy defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).”

World Bank, IAEA partner to fund nuclear energy

June 30, 2025, 3:06PMNuclear News

The World Bank and the International Atomic Energy Agency signed an agreement last week to cooperate on the construction and financing of advanced nuclear projects in developing countries, marking the first partnership since the bank ended its ban on funding for nuclear energy projects.

Nagra publishes license applications for Swiss geologic repository

June 27, 2025, 7:06AMRadwaste Solutions
A rendering of Switzerland’s proposed deep geologic repository. (Image: Nagra)

Nagra, Switzerland’s national cooperative for the disposal of radioactive waste, has published its general license applications for a deep geologic repository and separate spent fuel encapsulation plant, making the documents publicly available on a digital platform.

West Valley completes teardown of Main Plant Process Building

June 20, 2025, 12:02PMRadwaste Solutions
Before and after demolition: (1) Workers take the “first bite” during the start of the Main Plant Process Building demolition in 2022. (2) The Fuel Receiving and Storage Facility is now visible from this vantage point following the completion of the building demolition this month. Workers have begun groundwork to install a protective cover over the Main Plant footprint. (Image: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and its cleanup contractor CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) completed the on-time removal of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in New York. Located 35 miles south of Buffalo, the 150-acre WVDP site is home to the only commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility to operate in the United States.

Hanford teams prepare for first tank waste transfer

June 18, 2025, 12:16PMRadwaste Solutions
Hanford contractor teams rehearse procedures for the first transfer of waste from one of the site’s underground tanks to the WTP later this summer. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said that crews at its Hanford Site in Washington state are preparing for the site’s first-ever transfer of radioactive waste from one of its large underground tanks, Tank AP-106, to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).